A nuclear accident ravages a small town outside of Chicago, resulting in a government quarantine isolating it from the rest of the world. A generation later, with the quarantine still in place, strange mutations have affected the minds of the town's children -- mutations which could either spell the next stage in human evolution, or something far more sinister. As the children's psychic powers begin to manifest themselves in more demented and destructive forms, the kids escape their compound. Now it is up to Shandy Johnson and her friends to track down the runaways. Possessing similar powers, Sandy and her friends find themselves facing increasingly frightening confrontations with their escaped peers. First published in 1964, Sunburst has lost neither its edge nor its relevance. Predating the near-misses and disasters at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, Gotlieb reminds us of the tremendous forces we have at our fingertips -- powers that humans use daily but do not fully comprehend.

Seal Books / Bantam Canadian edition, 1979. Paperback. Adventure novel about a group of teenagers stranded on a planet of mutants, genetically manipulated beings, and out-of-control robots. There is a sequel, "Heart of Red Iron" (1989).

Every year, Phyllis Gotlieb (a successful poet, author, and University of Toronto graduate) penned heartfelt verses for her husband, Kelly (a distinguished Professor Emeritus in Computer Science at the University of Toronto). This collection celebrates the couple’s sixty years of marriage by bringing together poems, occasional verses, illustrations and even a telegram into one heartwarming book.